Ornamental air-filled balloons have become popular amusement devices. One type of balloon is formed of two facing plastic sheets, each sheet including a main circular section and an auxiliary tail section. The sheets are adhered together around their aligned peripheral edges, after which pressurized air is introduced through the tail area into the confined space between the circular sheet sections. The end of the tail area is then sealed to trap the air within the confined space. These balloons have the general appearance of a puffed-up circular pillow. Very often the faces of these balloons are transparent or brightly colored, e.g. bright silver or metallic blue, etc. Slogans and images of cartoon characters are sometimes printed on face areas of the balloons. The balloons can be relatively small, (e.g. two inches in diameter) or relatively large (e.g. ten inches in diameter), with the axial thickness varying from about one inch to about four inches.
Commonly the balloons are attached to a short plastic rod (stick) having a length of about twelve inches. The person will hold the rod in order to move or to carry the balloon from one place to another.
The present invention concerns a saddle connector usable between the aforementioned rod and the balloon, said connector being designed to form a concave seat for the lower curvilinear surface of the balloon, with the tail area of the balloon being wrapped around a portion of the saddle connector to retain the balloon in place on the connector. The connector can be formed separately from the associated rod (stick), in which case the connector will have a cylindrical socket structure formed thereon for fitting the connector onto the upper end of the rod. Alternately the saddle connector can be formed integrally with the rod. The present invention relates to the structure of the saddle connector (not to the method of attaching the connector onto the rod).
There is already in existence a saddle structure designed to fit against the lower curvilinear surface of a balloon. This pre-existing saddle structure has a funnel configuration, i.e. an inverted conical shape. One or more slots extend from the upper edge (rim) of the funnel downwardly along the funnel wall toward the funnel axis; a cylindrical post extends downwardly from the lower end of the funnel. The balloon is attached to the saddle structure by extending the tail of the balloon through the slot into the funnel wall and wrapping the tail one or more times around the cylindrical post; the free end of the tail can be redirected into the slot to prevent the tail material from unwinding off the post.
There are some disadvantages with the funnel-type saddle connector. For example, the circular rim of the funnel does not seat evenly against the balloon surface because the balloon surface curvature is different in the axial direction (compared to the circumferential direction); the balloon is apt to wobble on the connector. Also, when the funnel structure is used with small sized balloons the funnel side wall partially covers the undersurface of the balloon, thereby obscuring any message that might appear on that part of the balloon surface. Especially when the balloon is small, the funnel becomes a prominent part of the overall assembly, thereby tending to detract from the overall appearance of the balloon. This disadvantage can be partially overcome by making the funnel in a smaller size; however in that event the slot (or slots) becomes smaller (shorter), thereby making it somewhat more difficult to draw the tail area of the balloon through the slot.
The saddle connector of the present invention is designed to at least partially overcome the disadvantages of the funnel-type connector. Instead of a funnel, the connector employs two pairs of oppositely extending curved arms as the balloon-engagement components of the connector. These arms are configured to have an even (similar) engagement pressure against the balloon surface, thereby partially avoiding any wobble that might otherwise exist between the balloon and the connector.
The arms on the connector are spaced apart so that the arms do not tend to cover up (obscure) any message that might appear on the lower surface of the balloon. Also, the spaced arms have spaced contacts with the balloon, such that a given size connector can be used with a range of different sized balloons. The connector can be a relatively small size item; typically the tips of the connector arms can be less than one inch apart.
The newly-proposed connector includes a small post extending downwardly from the curved arms. A diametrical slot extends through the post to receive the tail area of the balloon. The location of the slot in the post (rather than at a point further up on the connector) helps in anchoring the balloon on the connector, since the downward pulling force on the tail area of the balloon is applied within the post relatively close to the post axis. Also, it becomes somewhat easier to wrap the tail area around the post, since the wrapping motion starts on the post rather than above the post. A further advantage of the newly-proposed connector is the fact that the relatively wide spaces between the arms can be used to receive the extreme end of the tail.